At the height of his career, Nick “Honey Badger” Cummins made the ultimate sacrifice for his family.

In case you missed it, Honey Badger is a former rugby union player with a larrikin sense of humour. He gave himself the nickname Honey Badger after he saw a honey badger fight off a lion in a wildlife documentary.

The 30-year-old is currently living in a mansion in the semi-rural NSW suburb of Glenorie, going on day trips to jump out of planes and sit on romantic-looking couches with his bachelorettes.

While most people know Honey Badger as a laid back bloke with a whole bunch of classic one-liners, his life hasn’t always been easy.

He grew up as one of eight siblings raised by their single dad, Mark Cummins, in Logan City, just south of Brisbane.

When they were only little, two of Honey Badger’s younger siblings, Elizabeth and Joe, were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

Despite the struggles of his early life, Cummins always dreamt of one day playing rugby union for the Wallabies.

In 2005, he moved to Sydney and began playing for the Randwick rugby club. From there Honey Badger’s star continued to rise as he was drafted onto the Western Force. Then in 2012, he was invited to play for the Wallabies.

The next year his dad, who had supported him every step of his career, was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.

In 2014, Honey Badger announced he was walking away from the Wallabies and Australian Rugby Union. He had been granted a contract release on compassionate grounds.

Honey Badger made the difficult decision to sign a contract with the Japanese club, Coca Cola West Red Sparks. He moved to Japan so he could make more money and send it back to Australia to support his dad and younger siblings. He knew making this move would also give him more time to spend with his family and research alternative treatments for his siblings’ disorder.

“He told me that in his heart he couldn’t enjoy himself when he could be doing more for the kids,” Mark explained to the Courier Mail in 2014.

“Nick said he could kick in more by signing in Japan where he will get more time off to return to the family and also research alternative medicines.”

The former rugby union player told Sunday Night he didn’t hesitate when deciding to walk away from his dream for his family.

“Every day is a struggle, every breath is a struggle… constant medication, constant coughing, constant vomiting, just struggling just to keep afloat and if you want to talk about courage yeah, that’s two examples of it there. I wanted to get a safety net in an account just ready for troubling times,” he told the program in 2016.

He also said that his dad’s diagnosis brought the family even closer together.

“I remember the first time I gave Dad like a proper hug you know and that was big. It’s sad that it takes something like this to happen but we wait so long until it’s too late and then and they can be gone you know,” he explained.

Honey Badger played for Japan for two years before retiring in 2016.

He’s now the face of Tradie Underwear and has appeared in a couple of Tourism Australia ads… oh, and The Bachelor.

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